Watercraft



Dec. W, 1950 J. H. CURRY 2,534,812

WATERCRAFT Filed Oct. 18, 1946 swam tom Patented Dec. 19, 1950 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE WATERCRAFT John H. Curry, Viola. M0,.

Application ()ctobcr 18, 1946, Serial'No. 704,052

sion of a watercraft of the character described whose hull is sodesigned and constructed as to have an air foil hull which will reduceair resistance to a minimum. 7

Still another object of this invention resides in the provision of awatercraft of the character described which is so constructed with sucha designed. distribution of weight relative to the air foil hull designthat the weight of the hull will lift away from the water and thusreduce water resistance on the planing surface when the craft istraveling at high rates of speed. The construction of the rear planingmember is such that when the speed of the craft increases to a pointwhere the hull would lift sufficiently to rise into the air the rearmember will drop to remain in contact with the water to retain thestability of the watercraft.

Still further improvements and advantages of this invention will readilyappear to those skilled in the art when the following description isread in the light of the preferred embodiment of this invention asillustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of one of the sponson planing members.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side plan view of the aircraft with parts broken away forclearer illustration.

Fig. 4 is a front view of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a second View of the craft similar to Fig. 3 with the hull ina different elevation.

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of the rear sponson planing member.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in which numerals indicatesimilar parts throughout the drawings, A designates the hull of awatercraft which is constructed in the form of a true airfoil section i,of considerable width, see Figure 4. The airfoil section I will functionlike the wing of an airplane, to lift the hull A as it moves forwardlythrough the air. The hull A has a 2 at its rearward end to stabilize thehull when it is propelled forward by any desirable type of inboardmotor. The hull A is provided with windows 3 for observation facilitiesof the occupants who occupy the seats 4 within the hull.

. 2 These seats i are so placed within the hull rela tive to the centerof gravity" and the center of lift thereof to afford the most desirableoperation of the watercraft.

Supported below the forward end of the hull in spaced relationship oneither side of the hull are two identical streamlined pedestals Bcomprising a center brace 5 and a pair of angularly disposed strutbraces 6 and l which interconnect the lower end of the brace 5 and thehull A.

A flat rectangular plane member or sponson 8 with an upwardly curved end9 is hinged to the pedestal B by a pin l l which extends through twoears i2 and [3 on the sponson 8 and the brace 5. A triangular shaped webIt is suspended from the sponson S with the tapered end forward and theafter end being adjacent the rear end of the sponson 8. Two fore and aftbracing members 54 and i5 interconnect the edestal B and the sponson 8in a flexible manner to maintain the plate level for planing but withsufficient resilience to prevent rupture thereof from shock.

The rear planing member C comprises a hollow tube l6 which extends fromthe upper hull wall I! through the lower hull l8. A vertical shaft i9 isslidably mounted in the tube I 6 with a spring 28 holding the shaft l9resiliently within the tube It and in an extended position. The lowerend of the shaft [9 is pivotally secured to a planing plate 2| which isidentical in all features including a web 22 such as the web [0 to theforward planing members. A stop 23 is placed on the shaft Is to preventthe shaft from sliding too far into the tube [6 and similarly a cableextension 24 of predetermined length which interconnects the stop 23with the hull A to limit the distance the shaft l9 may slide downward intube It.

In operation of this watercraft the air foil design of the hull causesthe forward end of hull A to be raised by the lifting effect of theforward sponsons as their speed increases through the water. The rearsponsons will retract to the hull as the increased impact of the waterovercomes the spring 20. As the speed is continually increased the airfoil hull will cause the hull to continue to lift raising both theforward and rearward ends until it approaches a state of flying. Whenthis state is reached the shaft l9 will drop in tube I6 maintaining therear sponson in contact with the water at all times giving stability tothe hull which has assumed the new position as illustrated in Fig. 3which causes the sponsons to carry enough of the weight of the hull tostabilize the craft yet maintain the greater task of lifting with theair foil hull.

Having thus described and explained the construction and operation ofthe watercraft set forth in this specification what I desire to claim inLetters Patent is:

A hydroplane, comprising a wide low hull constructed in the form of atrue airfoil section, transversely spaced sponsons secured to theforward end of the hull to support such forward end as the hydroplanetravels over the water, an elongated depending tube secured to thebottom of the hull adjacent to its rear end and at the transverse centerof the hull, an elongated reciprocatory shaft mounted within the tubeand projecting beyond the bottom end of the tube, a spring mountedwithin the tube and engaging the shaft to shift it downwardlyautomatically when the rear end of the hull is elevated, and asubstantially fiat planing plate pivotally secured to the bottom end ofthe shaft and extending longitudinally forwardly and rearwardly of theshaft for contacting the surface of the water irrespective of theelevation of the rear end of the hull.

JOHN H. CURRY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,301,917 Bolotofi Apr. 29, 19191,686,264 Brownback Oct. 2, 1928 1,749,017 Brownback Mar. 4, 19301,779,075 Plum Oct. 21, 1930 1,835,618 Waller Dec. 8, 1931 1,846,602Lake Feb. 23, 1932 2,073,438 Adams Mar. 9, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 382,812 Great Britain Nov. 3, 1932 485,572 Great BritainMay 18, 1938 795,223 France Jan. 2, 1936

